THE PROFIT 263 



ponds, estuary fisheries and hand-seines account for the 

 remaining 115,000 tons. 



The four species of which the greatest quantities are 

 taken are as follows : 



Herring (drift-nets), 500,000 tons annually ; or 57 per cent, of the 

 fish caught, representing a value of 38 per cent. 



Haddock (trawl), 164,000 tons, or 14 per cent, of the fish caught, 

 representing a value of 187 per cent. 



Cod, 67,000 tons, or 7-5 per cent, of the fish caught, representing a 

 value of 8'2 per cent. 



Plaice, 56,000 tons, or 6*2 per cent, of the fish caught, the value 

 being 10*9 per cent, of the total. 



Other species of less importance follow : whiting, ling, 

 turbot, soles, flounders. Great Britain is responsible for 

 catching and carrying home to her ports two-thirds of 

 the herring captured and nearly all the fish caught with 

 the trawl. France brings back from the North Sea only 

 250 tons of cod and 20,000 tons of herring. 



Excluding for the moment the large general fisheries, 

 the French fishermen fish more particularly in the waters of 

 the Channel and the Atlantic continental plateau, and the 

 inshore belt of the Mediterranean. The drift-net and the 

 trawl capture the following quantities of fish : 



Tons per Annum. 

 Drift-nets. Trawls. 



Channel and Atlantic 89,000 ... 43,000 



Mediterranean 4,000 ... 3,000 



Among the fish taken in drift-nets the largest figures 

 relate to the herring (40,000 tons in the Channel) and the 

 sardine (36,000 tons in the Atlantic, 2,000 in the Mediter- 

 ranean). The ratio of fish caught by the drift-net to 

 those taken in the trawl is still the same 50 per cent. ; 

 except in the Mediterranean, where this proportion no 

 longer holds true. To what must this fact be attributed ? 



